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I just bought a 2006 997 C2S. PO said he would use a battery maintainer during winter storage. Looking at Pelican Parts I see a "Battery Maintainer" and a "Battery Charger & Maintainer." I'm wondering if anyone has experience with either of these and which one you suggest and why.

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Maintainer is usually just a 'low power' trickle charger that does the job of keeping a battery charged. Maintainer and charger is usually a bigger power supply that is designed around charging a drained battery and that has an additional 'maintain' mode. If you don't plan on charging drained batteries, go with a decent maintainer.

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Maintainer is usually just a 'low power' trickle charger that does the job of keeping a battery charged. Maintainer and charger is usually a bigger power supply that is designed around charging a drained battery and that has an additional 'maintain' mode. If you don't plan on charging drained batteries, go with a decent maintainer.

I have a larger charger that connects directly to the battery terminals. Is there any reason why this would not be good to use on a completely dead 997 battery (with the negative cable off, of course)? If not, then I'll definitely go with the maintainer.

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If the larger charger is "smart" i.e. something that has a computer chip and monitors the voltage and regulates it once it has reached the appropriate values, then it should be fine to leave it on indefinitely (disconnect leads from car or remove battery to be safe).

If it is a "dumb" charger, like the kind on wheels that you roll around and move a dial to 50 amps, DO NOT leave that connected to the battery or your house might burn down. That being said, if you know how to use that, it can also appropriately charge a completely dead battery, and much faster and more efficiently than a battery maintainer. A maintainer might not even be able to sufficiently charge a completely dead battery.

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It's a "dumb" charger, but I would only use it to charge a dead battery (i.e., not leaving it on indefinitely). Just wondered if there was something special about the battery such that one should only use the Porsche charger.

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Certainly not. It is a battery just like any other car battery. Just observe the manual and battery instructions to ensure you don't melt something... but I've safely used dumb chargers before on all types of batteries.